This invention relates to apparatus for removing a flex arm connector from printed circuit boards when one end of such components are soldered to the board.
Typically, a main interconnect board for an aerospace vehicle has more than a thousand connections soldered to a single printed circuit board. Thus, if a fault appears in one of the multiplicity of flex arm type input/output cables, it is economically feasible to seek ways to repair or replace the failed component rather than install an entire new main interconnect board assembly. Cost differential between repairing a flex arm and replacing an entire board assembly is something on the order of ten to one.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,958 to Lipkes discloses a tool for removing soldered IC packages from a printed circuit board. Lipkes teaches how to position a plurality of heat conducting rods which make contact with the individual pins of the IC package as they protrude from the underside of the board. The heat conducted by the rod ends to the pins softens the soldered connections and the spring loaded rods collectively press the IC package free from the board.
A second prior art approach for removing IC packages from printed circuit (PC) boards is to use a soldering iron to melt solder from around the pins where they contact the printed circuit conductors, then remove the molten solder with a solder sucker. This method works when removing chips having a relatively small number of pins, for example sixteen to twenty four. However, it has not proven to be a satisfactory means for removing flex arms from printed circuit boards wherein there are often more than a hundred pins extending from the attachment interface between the flex arm and the PC board.